Woven tubular fabric



July 14, 1931. D. H. MURPHY WOVEN TUBULAR FABRIC Filed Nov. 16, 192B/NVE/VTOR n mi@ A T70 RNEY Patented July 14, 15931 UNITED sTATEs .PATENTOFFICE DANIEL H. HUBPH'Y, 0I WST HARTFORD, OONNICTOUT, ABBIGNOB TO THEm- MOL!) COMPANY, OF HARTFORD, OONNEUIICUT, A CORPORATION OI NNECTIC'UTwom mm1?. :une

Application tiled November 18, 1988. lerinl lo. 819,888.

This invention relates to woven tubular fabrics having either one orboth sets of the interwoven strandsformed of soft crumpled strips ofl par. lVoven tulidlar fabrics are extensively employed as protectingjackets for electric conductors and for other purposes, and the walls ofsuch tubes are usually made relatively thick to afford the desiredmechanical and electrical protection.

A large amount of material is therefore employed in the construction ofthese tubes, and the present invention relates to improved constructionswhereby woven tubes that are capable of affording a high degree ofmechanical and electrical protection can be produced at an extremely lowcost. l

This is accomplished in accordance with the present invention byconstructing either the warp or weft threads of the woven fabric, or ifdesired both the warp and weft threads of soft, untwisted, readilycompressible strands of crumpled paper. Such strands, due to their soft,readily compressible properties will yield under the pressure of thestrands interlocked therewith and allow the interlocking strands to sinkinto the surface of the soft paper strands to thereby improve thelocking or binding engagement between the warp and weft threads. Thepaper strands will also spread laterally under pressure to improve thecovering effect of the woven fabric. This tendency of the crumpled paperstrands to spread laterally under pressure serves to close theinterstices between the adjacent strands and helps to form asubstantially impervious covering.

The various features of the present inven-V tion will be best understoodfrom the following description when read in connection with ingraccompanying drawings, wherein ig. 1 is a side elevation of a at stripof paper the lower portion of which is crumpled to form a roundedstrand;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a woven tube constructed in accordancewith the present invention, the weft thread being formed of the crumpledpaper of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the tube of Fig. 2;

Fig.`5 is a sectional view of the tube of f.'

Fig. 4.

The untwisted crumpled paper strands 10 employed in carrying out thepresent invention are easily produced by passing'a flat ribbon or narrowsheet of paper 11 throu h acrumpling die such as shown in m copen 'ngapplication, Serial No. 319,884 ed Nov. 16, 1928, sincematured intoPatent No. 1,760,768, dated May 27, 1930.

In carrying out the present invention the woven tubular fabric may beconstructed in part or entirely of paper, and in the construction shownin Fig. 2 the tubular fabric is formed of a relatively large weft strandof crumpled paper similar to the strands 10 of Fig. 1 which isinterwoven with smaller warp strands 12 of cotton or the like. The warpstrands 12 are shown as disposed in spaced relation to each other, andthe tendency of the soft paper strand 10 to spread laterally underpressure is relied upon to close the cracks or apertures between thead'acent coils of the strand 10. As a result o this arrangement only arelatively few warp threads are required in addition to the weft threadto form a tightly closed fabric possessing good covering properties.

t 1s not necessary, however, in all embodiments of the invention thatthe paper threads be secured in contacting relation with eachother forif desired an open weave may be employed, in which casev vthe lateralspreading eiect of the paper strand will help to increase the coveringproperties of the fabric and will increase the smoothne of the outer andinner faces of the fabric.

In the modified construction show n in Fig. 4 both the weft and warpstrands are formed of crumpled paper to produce an all-paper fabric, andwhile the weft strands 10 of crumpled paper are shown larger than thewarp strands 13 of crumpled paper, the size of these strands mayobviously be varied as desired. It will also be ap arent thatvariousforms of weaves may employed in constructing the tubular fabricof the present invention. The advantages of the present invention,however, are more particularly observable when the type of weaveemployed is such that the aper strands are free to spread laterally tolncrease the covering effect of the crumpled paper.

The'tubular fabric of the present invention is well adapted for use as aprotecting cover ing for electric conductors and for various otherpurposes, and is shown in Fig. 4 as forming a protectin jacket for anelectric conductor 14 whichY 1s surrounded by the insulting material 15.

AWoven tubular fabric constructed of crumpled paper in accordance withthe present inventlon is inexpensive to manufacture, affords excellentprotecting properties, and as a result of the laterally spreadingtendency of the paper may be readily Woven to form a tight practicallyimpervious fabric.

What is claimed is 1. A conduit of Woven tubular fabric comprising warpstrands having weft strands interwoven therewith and formed ofsubstantially untwisted strips vof paper that are crumpled into thickstrands that are suliy ciently soft and compressible to spread laterallyin the fabric to a pronounced degree between and partly around thebinding warp strands to close the interstices in the woven fabric.

2. A conduit of woven tubular fabric comprising interwoven warp and weftstrands and having one set of the interwoven strands formed ofsubstantially untwisted strips of paper that are crumpled into strandsthat are sufficiently soft and compressible to spread laterally in thefabric under pressure and to cause these strands to spread to alpronounced degree, between, and partly around the other set of strandsto close the interstices in the woven fabric.

3. A conduit of woven tubular fabric comprising interwoven warp and weftstrands and having one set of the interwoven strands lformed ofsubstantially untwisted strips of paper that are crumpled intorelatively large strands that are sufficiently soft and compressible tospread laterally in the fabric to a pronounced degree to increase thecover ing effect of the fabric and to spread between the binding strandssuiliciently to close the interstices 1n the woven fabric.

In testimony whereof,l I have signed my name to this speciication.

' DANIEL H. MURPHY.

